Latest Area News Headlines

Farm 40 on Us winner Anita Elness of Windom, pictured here with Radio Works General Manager/Owner Chad Cummings, Trent Palm of Winfield/Croplan, Denny Weber of New Vision and Jim Resch of Winfield/Croplan. Elness won everything she needs to farm 40 acres of corn.

WORTHINGTON – Congratulations to Anita Elness of Windom and Jim Schettler of Wilmont, the two winners of the Radio Works Farm 40 on Us!

More than 30 finalists gathered Thursday night at the Travelodge in Worthington, hoping for a chance to win everything they need to plant 40 acres of corn or soybeans. New Vision, Croplan and Winfield will give them the seed, nutrients and field monitoring to farm 40 acres – Elness of corn and Schettler of beans. The sponsors will also help them put a plan together so they can come with optimum yield.

WORTHINGTON – A student-led technology conference will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Worthington Middle School. Trojan Tech is open to parents, siblings and the general public – anyone who is interested in what’s going on at Independent School District 518 technology-wise. And even those who just want to learn how some of this crazy technology works!

Students from grades 3 through 8 will offer short classes in blogging, Twitter, PDF Annotation, Schoology, digital citizenship and more. They will explain how documents are shared, how online book clubs operate, how to...

WORTHINGTON – On the one-year anniversary of the ice storm of April 2013, Radio Works has put together a look back at the first few days of the crazy weather that stopped parts of the upper Midwest in its tracks.

Included are audio clips from Nobles County Sheriff Kent Wilkening, Worthington Police Chief Mike Cumiskey, Worthington Public Utilities General Manager Scott Hain, Worthington Mayor Alan Oberloh and other local officials. Also included are a few memories from various Radio Works staff such as Matt Widboom, Barry Roberts, Jared Rademacher and Jaime Salinas.

WORTHINGTON – The Worthington City Council Thursday morning approved a ballot question for the November election that would ask citizens to okay the transfer of the old pool site from the city to Nobles County for use as a new library site. The land was gifted to the city by the E.O Olson Trust.

Because of city charter restrictions, any use of the land other than for park use must go to a public vote.

The property transfer would include the existing fish rearing ponds because of impervious surface restrictions, but the ponds would still be protected.

LAKEFIELD - Pleasantview Elementary in Lakefield and the schools in Lakefield, Heron Lake and Okabena were awarded federal grants for the Safe Routes to School program.
Pleasantview Elementary received a 2015 Infrastructure grant for a path connect and improve crossing from the south neighborhood to Pleasantview Elementary.

The schools in Lakefield, Heron Lake and Okabena received a Planning Grant to help analyze existing conditions, gather public input and identify potential solutions at K-8 schools.

FULDA – On a red flag fire warning day, the Fulda Fire Department was called at approximately 4 p.m. Wednesday to a blaze inside the St. Gabriel Catholic Church. The fire appeared to have started in a corner room of the church known as the flower room.

Fulda Police Chief Paul Kenney said reports indicated the fire was mostly contained to that corner room, although a wall shared between the room and that of the main church may have been bowed or compromised because of the heat.

While there was no official indication of the cause of the fire, one parishioner said a light in the...

JACKSON – In Jackson County, a one-vehicle rollover in the early morning hours resulted in non-life threatening injuries for a Sioux Rapids, Iowa man. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, Neil Lewallen, age 27, was southbound on Highway 86 Wednesday morning, two miles north of the Minnesota-Iowa border, when he lost control of his 2006 Chevy Cobalt and rolled into the ditch. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Dickinson County Ambulance responded.

SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa - Some work in the right-of-way along Highway 9 between Spirit Lake and Estherville is scheduled to begin this...

OCHEYEDAN, Iowa – A report of a missing person Tuesday resulted in the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office finding the body of 48-year-old John Michael Dirks in a ditch along Highway 9 in the Ocheyedan area.

Assisting in the search was Ocheyedan Fire and Rescue, Osceola County Emergency Management, Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

WORTHINGTON – The Nobles County Commissioners Tuesday approved a tax abatement agreement between the county and Ferrera Candy Company, which states that for a period of three years, property taxes assessed to the company will be refunded after proof that certain conditions are met.

According to the agreement, AGCO will utilize the vacant building in Round Lake, immediately creating 20 new full-time jobs and adding at least 30 new full-time jobs within the first 12 months of the signing of the document. The 20 new jobs created at first must have a starting wage of no less than $12...